Balancing motherhood and studying abroad

As a working nurse and mother of two, Huiyan knows a lot about caring for others.

Since graduating with a degree in nursing in 2018 she has worked as an anaesthetist nurse, but says caring about her children’s future inspired her to improve her qualifications through post-graduate studies.

The 28-year-old Guanzhou resident is now studying a Master of Nursing in Australia at The University of Newcastle. Because she can attain her Masters in one year at Newcastle rather than the two years it would have taken in China, Huiyan made the decision to leave her children with their father and grandparents in China.

While she misses them greatly she still communicates with her daughter Candy and son Peter regularly through the internet.

“Besides attending classes and studying, I video call my children for three hours every day,” Huiyan says.

“For me, video calling my family is a great way to relieve stress.”

Huiyan says her children were a major motivation for her to improve her qualifications.

She says the occupation of nursing does not hold a very high status in China. “In old-fashioned views, people generally believe that nurses are graduates from technical schools,” Huiyan says.  “However, in reality, without a bachelor's degree, it's almost impossible to find a job as a nurse in China today.”

While she has been working as a nurse since graduating, she knew she had to do further studies to improve her career prospects in a crowded employment market.“Since becoming a mother, I do not want my children to think lowly of my educational level in the future,” she says.

“I want to set a positive example for my children, to be an active role model, showing them that they have parents with high educational qualifications. This is also the original intention behind my desire to further my education.”

Huiyan says there were many reasons that made her select the University of Newcastle for her Master instead of doing it in China.

“It's because of its good overall ranking, availability of scholarships, short course duration, and flexible enrolment times” Huiyan says.

“The teachers pay great attention to students' feedback and needs, and the teaching facilities are well-equipped.”

She cites an example where she felt one of her assignments had been marked low and was able to successfully argue for it to be re-evaluated by another academic. The second academic better understood her views and gave her a higher grade.“Such a situation would be impossible in China,” Huiyan says. “After all, in the traditional view, the authority of teachers is not to be challenged.”

In addition to the benefits the university offered, Huiyan said the regional city of Newcastle itself had many advantages over the larger capital cities around Australia.

“The rent here is cheaper than in Sydney or Melbourne,” she says. “It has fewer distractions, which allows me to focus better on my studies, without distractions.

“I also cook for myself for the most time, which significantly saves on living costs.” Huiyan says she used her maternity leave in China to prepare for her International English Language Testing System (IELTS) qualifications.

“I made use of fragmented time to study. After putting my two babies to sleep, I would go online to do IELTS exercises,” she says.

“When someone helped me take care of the babies, I seized the opportunity to memorise words. I even practiced speaking in front of the mirror while taking a bath, brainstorming ideas for speaking materials.”

“It has been a memorable maternity leave experience for me. I hope my experience can inspire other mothers to make good use of their maternity leave to do what they want to do.”

Huiyan Zhang

Studying at the University of Newcastle is helping Masters of Nursing student Huiyan achieve her career goals sooner.

The teachers pay great attention to students' feedback and needs, and the teaching facilities are well-equipped.